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Liborio Milito
Liborio "Louie" Milito (Unknown - March 8th 1986) was a soldier in the Gambino crime family. He is known for being a prominent member of the New York Mafia and for his gangland disappearance at the hands of his best friend, notorious mobster Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano. Biography Not much is known about Milito's early life. He was born sometime in the 1940s in New York City. He joined a local street gang called the Rampers which operated in Brooklyn when he was in his teens. Around this time he met future Gambino crime family underboss Salvatore Gravano who had also joined the Rampers. They became lifelong friends and committed crimes together. In the late 1960's. Milito married Linda Milito, who later wrote a book called "Mafia Wife". During Sammy’s time in the war, one of the Rampers, Louie Milito, had developed a thriving operation in which stolen vehicles were shipped out of the country for sale overseas. “I was close to Louie. I needed a car. He offered to get me one at cost—the cost being what it took to rob the car, changing the engine number and the plates, getting the registration and so forth. Louie calls me and says the car is all ready in a yard he uses. So I go down with a kid named Tommy Spero who had hooked up with the Rampers. I pick up the car and I’m headed for a car wash when all of a sudden there are fucking police cars chasing me, lights flashing, sirens full blast, and they pull me over. The cops were coming at us with guns out. I said, ‘What’s the matter? What happened?’ This cop says, ‘You’re in a stolen car.’ “I said, ‘No, I’m not. Here’s the registration. Here’s my license. Here’s everything.’ I was real cocky. “He tells me, ‘Look, the plates don’t match. These are stolen plates.’ So now I know what happened. The guy in the yard didn’t change the plates. Next thing the cops are under the car with mirrors and they spot where the numbers have been changed. I can’t believe it. I’ve been breaking in, doing stickups all over the place, and this is my first pinch since I’m out of the army. I told the cops that Tommy Spero was just riding with me, keeping me company, he don’t know nothing, and they just took his name and let him go. “Louie Milito is fucking fuming. He was even thinking of whacking the guy about the plates, but I told him, ‘Louie, I mean, come on, the guy forgot. Maybe it’s, you know, partly my fault. Maybe I was anxious to get the car out of the yard and I could be just as much to blame.’ “The guy, naturally, is scared to death. He pays for my lawyer and he tells the cops that yeah, I had come in to buy the car legitimately. He’s in the used-car business. He didn’t know it was stolen. He said that if he had ever thought it was stolen, he wasn’t stupid enough to leave the wrong plates on it. “So even though I knew it was a swagged car, my lawyer’s argument is that I’m an innocent victim. He talks to the prosecutor, and they knocked it down to a misdemeanor. I don’t mind taking a plea, because misdemeanors really don’t count. It’s felonies that screw up your life. I think the lawyer got twenty-five hundred, three thousand. My fine was five hundred. The yard guy paid that, too.” In the 1970s, Milito joined the Gambino crime family along with Salvatore Gravano and other members of the Rampers. He was an associate in the crew of capo Salvatore "Toddo" Aurello. When Aurello resigned as Capo, Paul Castellano promoted Gravano to capo in charge of Aurello's old crew. Milito became a member of the crew along with Louis Vallario, Joseph Paruta, Joseph D'Angelo, Sr., Nicholas Mormando and Michael DeBatt. They all committed murders together and were involved in the Nightclub and Construction business. On August 5th 1977, at 11:30pm Gravano and Milito murdered 16 year old Alan Kaiser who was walking down kings highway near west 8th street in Gravesend, Brooklyn. They pulled over at the side of the road Kaiser was shot in the chest and head by Milito with a shotgun and Salvatore Gravano with a handgun. Kaiser was murdered due to mistaken identity, Gravano had his ankle broken the week before in a robbery of one of his nightclubs by Aldo Candido. Milito and Gravano saw Alan Kaiser walking down the street and thought he was Aldo so they pulled over and shot him. In 1978, Milito and Joseph D'Angelo murdered Associate Nicholas Scibetta on the orders of Frank DeCicco. he was murdered and the only part of Scibetta's body ever recovered was one of his hands, he was declared legally dead in 1985. How Scibetta was killed, as well as the exact extent of Gravano's involvement, remains unknown. In 1978, Gravano opened an after hours club in Bensonhurst. The bar was the scene of a violent altercation one night involving a rowdy biker gang intent on ransacking the establishment, which may have served as inspiration for a similar scene in the 1993 film A Bronx Tale. A melee ensued in which Gravano broke his ankle and the bikers were brutally beaten and then chased off. Gravano then went to Castellano and received permission to murder the leader of the gang and as many of them as possible. Along with Milito, Gravano hunted down the leader, wounding him and killing another member of the gang. In a 3 month period, Gravano and Milito murdered a total of 13 members of the biker gang. Castellano was flabbergasted when he learned the crutch-ridden Gravano personally took part in the hit. In 1980, Gravano, Milito and D'Angelo abducted Philadelphia crime family capo Johnny "Keys" Simone from Skyview - Miry Run Golf Club in Robbinsville, New Jersey (in suburban Trenton, New Jersey) and drove him to a wooded area in Staten Island. Gravano then granted Simone's requests to die with his shoes off, in fulfillment of a promise he had made to his wife and at the hands of a made man. After Gravano removed Simone's shoes, Milito shot Simone in the back of the head, killing him. Gravano would later express admiration for Simone as a "man's man," remarking favorably on the calmness with which he accepted his fate. Gravano earned praise from Castellano for the killing. In 1982, Milito participated in the murder of Drug Trafficker and Businessman Frank Fiala who was in the process of buying one of Gravano's clubs and had insulted him. Gravano set up an ambush outside the club. Gravano and Milito came up from behind Fiala and shot him in the head. Milito stood over the body and fired a shot into each of Fiala's eyes as Fiala's entourage and the crowd of people on the street dispersed, screaming. Gravano then walked up to Fiala's corpse and spit on it. In 1983, Milito was sentenced to 3 years in Lewisberg Federal Prison for Loansharking with capo Thomas Bilotti and was released shortly after the murder of Boss Paul Castellano. Downfall When Salvatore Gravano became consigliere in 1986 his old crew was taken over by Louis Vallario. Milito was not pleased with this decision. Milito made the mistake of telling other crew members that it was he who should have been given the top spot in Gravano's crew after Gravano's promotion, not Vallario. Gotti wanted Milito killed for being a Castellano Loyalist. Gravano claims he stood up for Milito and stopped the murder from happening. Milito returned to Gravano's crew, only to badmouth his old friend's choice of Louis Vallario as captain after Gravano's promotion. On March 8, 1988, Liborio Milito was called to a meeting at Louis Vallario's bar to discuss the murder of a Gambino associate. Gene Gotti, John Carneglia, Louis Vallario and Arnold Squitieri were present at the meeting, as was Gravano. At 7pm, Milito walked into Vallario's bar Gene Gotti, Squitieri and Gravano were playing a card game at the table. John Carneglia was watching TV on the couch and Vallario was behind the bar. Milito asked Vallario for some coffee and While Milito was drinking some espresso, Carneglia got up from the couch and came up behind him with a .380 caliber handgun with silencer. He fired a bullet into the back of Milito's head. Milito fell off his bar stool and lay face up on the floor, Carneglia bent over him and shot him under his chin. Milito's death was similar to the murder of Capo Robert DiBernardo as they both asked for coffee and were shot in the head. Milito's body was loaded into a car by Carneglia and Squitieri, they drove off and dumped the body. It has never been found. Milito's wife Linda claims in her book Mafia Wife that when Louie did not come home or call, she went to see Gravano at his home. Linda said Gravano gave her $5,000 and cut all ties to her. Linda also wrote that a friend saw Gravano driving Milito's Lincoln Town Car and was able to identify it by damage done to the car before Milito went missing. Linda Milito would cry foul in her book after Gravano testified he had not been the shooter in Milito's murder; she said that a Gambino family member later informed her Salvatore Gravano had shot and killed Louie, contrary to what Gravano had told the FBI. Gravano, however, claims in his book Underboss that after Milito was killed, he finished the construction work Milito was having done on his home and continued to support Linda Milito and her family. People Murdered by Liborio Milito Liborio Milito was friends with Salvatore Gravano since childhood, they were in the Rampers gang together. When they both joined the Gambino crime family they committed murders together. Order: No.Name/Rank/Affiliation/When/Involvement/Reason 1.Alan Kaiser/none/independent/August 5th 1977/Personal/ Mistaken Identity Gravano thought 16-year-old Alan Kaiser was Aldo Candido the person who robbed his nightclub. 2.Member of a Biker Gang/Associate/Biker Gang/1978/Personal/ a biker gang ransacked on of Gravano's bars, he killed a member of the biker gang in revenge. 3.Nicholas Scibetta/Associate/Gambino Crime Family/1978/Confessed/ Scibetta was killed because he was involved in a dispute with George DeCicco's daughter. 4.Johnny "Keys" Simone/Crime boss/Philadelphia Crime Family/1980/Took part in kidnapping and killing. 5.Frank Fiala/Businessman/Independent/1982/Personal/ Gravano murdered Frank Fiala because of a business dispute, Fiala tried to buy the Plaza Nightclub and when the process of purchasing the club was ongoing he made decisions as if he was the owner already without Gravano's permission and this lead to arguments culminating in Fiala threatening to kill Gravano. Category:Gambino Crime Family Category:Gravano Crew Category:Murdered Mobsters Category:List of Mobsters who Disappeared Category:Soldiers